Sheridan Smith: what's really going on with our Funny Girl?

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“There’s no business like showbusiness,” goes the old stage anthem, celebrating the “show people” who “smile when they are low”. We have always demanded such self-sacrifice from our performers. These days, we also appear to insist that they are impeccable beings, even when being barracked in front of an audience, or abused on twitter feeds.

The actress Sheridan Smith is the latest victim of this phenomenon. Smith is an unquestionably coruscating performer, already boasting two Oliviers, a Bafta, and an OBE at the age of 34.

Back in March, she was criticised for missing a performance of her hit musical, Funny Girl, following her adored father’s diagnosis with cancer, in an argument with her employers that spilled over into erratic Twitter messages.

Sheridan Smith arrives for her matinée performance of Funny GirlCredit:
Paul Grover for The Telegraph

Two weeks ago, another performance was halted midway through for “technical difficulties”. Rumours began circulating that the actress had been drunk (something those close to her argue is implausible).

Last weekend, as the television industry gathered for its Bafta awards, host Graham Norton publicly mocked Smith for the incident, informing the audience that they could have a few drinks, “or as we call it in the industry, a couple of glasses of technical difficulties”.

Smith was then ridiculed on twitter for being a bad loser when her face registered a flicker of disappointment on not winning an award - despite her nomination being for The C Word, a cancer drama close to her heart (when she was just eight years old, she lost her 18 year-old brother to the same disease her father is now battling).

The cancellation of Monday night’s performance, following an evening of carousing, compounded the criticism. Smith’s reaction was to retaliate against these “vultures”, tweeting: “Come say your s--- to my face and see what happens”.

Another message read: “Well done press! You let down me, the cast and everyone who paid to see me…Sorry, sorry, I’m not strong enough”.

So, what is going on? Firstly, nothing delights the watching world more than a spectacular rise, followed by a tragic fall - especially if its subject is female. Some seem to be relishing every last moment of this debacle, as a woman previously celebrated as a national treasure is hounded by those eager to propel her into misfortune, then rubber neck the road accident left behind it.

Smith attending the BAFTA TV AwardsCredit:
Jonathan Brady/PA

This feels all the more savage because - whatever else is going on in Smith’s life - she is undoubtedly going though a terrible time. Her gravely ill father, Colin, is four hours’ drive away in the village of Epworth, near Scunthorpe. Smith is supported by the friends she calls her “urban family”. However, she is single, with the need for self-sufficiency that that entails, and a private life routinely described as “chequered” (frankly, whose private life isn’t?) since she split from James Corden in 2009.

Actors speak of “Dr Theatre” - the stage’s ability to distract them from physical and mental torment. However, it can also prove a curiously lacerating life. Working when everyone else is playing can leave one socially isolated, evening performances allowing too much time to brood during the day. There is the constant pressure of only feeling as good as one’s last performance, and self-employed stress to accept every good job that comes one’s way.

At the Baftas, host Graham Norton mocked Smith, informing the audience that they could have a few drinks, “or as we call it in the industry, a couple of glasses of technical difficulties”

Insiders report that, unlike the rest of the cast, Smith enjoyed no break when Funny Girl transferred from Southwark’s Menier Chocolate Factory to the Savoy, racing to Leeds to shoot a television appearance. This "really hard worker" has also been laid low with a virus.

The PR company that Smith parted ways with last summer described her as “high maintenance”. Friends argue that, on the contrary, she is in fact “incredibly grounded”.

However, even she has acknowledged that anxiety is an increasing issue. As she told The Telegraph a couple of years ago: “When I moved to London at 16, I was a real go-getter, but it [the insecurity] has come [with success]… I started having these panic attacks before going on stage.” And all this was before her current crushing unhappiness.

Many performers will sympathise. Speaking to The Telegraph this week, actress Naomie Harris vowed never to act live again due to stage fright: “Dealing with that when you’re going through something really emotional in your private life and feeling vulnerable or depleted is so, so hard… I think Sheridan’s an absolutely extraordinary actress and person for doing that night after night.”

Actors speak of 'Dr Theatre' - the stage’s ability to distract them from physical and mental torment

Smith also seems to feel some insecurity about being a hoofer rather than a book-learning type, rising through television and musicals rather than attending theatre school. Despite her awards, she manifests an acute case of imposter syndrome, declaring: “I always feel like a bit of a fraud, but so far I’ve not been found out.”

On performing with Dame Maggie Smith, she commented: “I can’t help thinking: 'I don’t deserve to be here’… I spend most of the time feeling like I’m totally blagging it.”

Sheridan Smith and Joel Montague in Funny GirlCredit:
Marc Brenner

One observer has remarked: “She has a touch of the [comedy writer] Caroline Aherne in that she is a slightly mercurial talent… I don’t think she is as tortured as Caroline, but... she seems to get so wound up about everything.”

Sonia Friedman, the producer of Funny Girl, recently told Vogue: “She is beautifully vulnerable. It is her vulnerability that makes her special, that people connect to and keeps her striving for perfection. But she also has the inner steel to get on stage every night and sock it to them.”

If that steel is currently missing, then who can blame her? Sheridan’s fans - like her friends - can only hope that she now renounces Twitter and receives help, rather than ridicule.